During the 2011–12 eurozone crisis, several regulators imposed bans on the practice of short-selling shares in financial companies, saying this would reduce the chances of destabilising runs on share prices.

But a working paper published by the European Systemic Risk Board finds the move actually increased economic instability, especially for banks.

Short-selling bans and bank stability looks at the short-selling bans imposed in 2008–09 in a number of countries, notably the US, Canada, the UK